Web tool allows base personnel to report hazards

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Lisa Spilinek
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AFB, Mass. --  Promoting safety is an integral part of Air Force culture, but putting that culture into practice is sometimes more difficult. That's why the Hanscom Safety Office created a user-friendly Web tool, which enables individuals to report safety hazards on the base.

Col. Tom Schluckebier, 66th Air Base Wing commander referred to the link on the Electronic Systems Center CenterNet homepage labeled, 'REPORT HAZARD,' as an Easy Button™ and indeed it is simple to use.

"I was curious so I clicked on the button and found a very short and simple electronic form I could use to report a hazard. That's all. Nothing to print. No passwords. No special information. No training or course I needed to take -- just a really easy and simple way to report a hazard that I may have encountered in my workplace or in travels around Hanscom," the colonel wrote in a recent Hansconian commentary.

So far, 38 hazards have been reported and 11 have been closed, said Galen Williams, 66th Air Base Wing Safety Office director.

Hazards that impact the immediate safety of personnel are considered emergency and fixed quickly, he said.

One hazard that was assuaged was the lack of lighting in the parking lot that lies between the Fitness and Sports Center, Shoppette and Hanscom Lanes.

Hanscom Inspector General Col. Denise Kloeppel used the REPORT HAZARD tool to alert the Safety Office that the parking lot's nighttime lighting was insufficient and that early-morning gym-users were endangered as they crossed it in the dark.

"The hot link on the CenterNet was easy to find and easy to use; it only took one click to get to the form," Colonel Kloeppel said.

Empowering base personnel to report hazards is something that Mr. Williams said he hopes every person on base takes seriously and is one of the key concepts of the Voluntary Protection Program, which Hanscom is implementing.

Under VPP, which was created by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1982 and formally introduced to the Hanscom community May 2006, worker safety and health, and the identification and elimination of hazards by involving employees and managers in the process are top priorities.

Hanscom will be evaluated by OSHA in between June and August 2008 to determine to what degree the base is complying with VPP processes.

"We need your input to make this program work," Mr. Williams said. "Keep reporting -- the Safety Office stands ready to assist."